In computer networks, troubleshooting and administration are useful to ensure quality of service (QoS), reliability, and availability. Troubleshooting and monitoring functions may be implemented by using data mirroring capabilities. However, data mirroring may be expensive and limited.
Data mirroring is often implemented using a parallel network. Typically, data packets as they appear at a monitored node on a primary network are sent via the parallel network to a remote mirror node or destination. This parallel network approach requires additional hardware and software, as well as significant time and labor for setup and configuration of a mirror network. A parallel network typically is used to avoid having the mirror packets cause congestion or other performance problems on the primary network.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to be able to mirror data from a node on a primary network to a monitoring node using the primary network itself as the transport mechanism, instead of requiring a parallel network, without interfering with the delivery and processing of non-mirror data being sent via the primary network.